Philip w



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

PHILIP W MACKENZIE, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,447, dated January 19, 1886. Application filed September 29, 1884. Serial No 1-l-l,29l. (No model.)

To all whom it may concrn:

Be it known that I, PHILIP W, lVIACKENZIE, of the city and County of New York, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Producing Gas for Illuminating and Heating Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is applicable to apparatus in which carbonic oXide or a niixture of carbonic oxide and hydrogen is generated, either for use as a fuel-gas or to be enriched by the addition to it while it is in a highly-heated state, of a vapor or gas obtained by the dstillation of liquid hydrocarbon.

The invention relates to those furnaces or generators which are severally provided with a central outlet-pipe for gas, and a number of feeding-.throats or openings comniunicating with the top of the furnace at different points around the wall of the furnace.

The invention consists in the combination, with an upright furnace, of a gas-outlet pipe leading from the top of the furnace at the center thereof, two or more feedingthroats con- Verging from their upper ends downward and commnnicating with the top of the furnace at different points around the wall of the i'm'- nace, hoppers for coal surnounting the feeding-throats and having their outer .sides or walls inward of the outer walls of the throats, covers for the hoppers, and valvcs hinged below the hoppers and beyond or outward of the outer walls of the hoppers, whereby provision is aft'orded for so opening the valves as to leave a clear opening from the hoppers into the feeding-throats. hen the hoppers are to be charged with coal, their covers are removed and the valves between the hoppers and feeding-throats are closed; but after charging the hoppers their covers are replaced and the said valves are opened.

Figure 1 in the drawings represents a central Vertical section of a furnace or`ge`nerator With my improvement( Fig. 2 is a plan of the same.

Similarletters of reference indicate `corresponding parts in both figures. r

The furnace or generator representedis, eX- cept as to the arrangement of the gas-outlet pipe and the means of providing forsupplying it with the fuel or gas-producing material, in some particulars like the furnace or gena outside of the threat-piece and hopper.

erator represented in ny Patent No. 20l,SOS, dated March 26, 1878, and in some particulars like that described in my Patents Nos. 246 962 and %6,963, dated September 13, l88i-that is to say, it consists of the upright fuel-receptacle A, having a grate, C, at the bottom, and an air-right ash-pit, D, below and surrounded by a jacket, B, within which there is formed a circuitons or interrupted fiue or passage, a a, by means of flanges b b, attached to the outside of the receptacle A, the said flue or passage receiving air and steam through an injector, c,- but so far the said furnace or generator constitutes no part of the present invention, which relates only to the means of feeding fuel and the arrangenent of the same with reference to the gasoutlet, which I will now proceed to describe. The

gasoutlet pipe E is arranged at the center of the top of the furnace or generator, and around or at the side of the mouth or entrance e of this pipe there are provided at equal distances apart and near the outer wallof the receptacle the fuel-openings ff, of which I prefer that there should be at least three, but of which iu the furnace represented there are four. These fuel-openings enter' the very top of the furnace-chamber A. Each of these fuel-openings f is provided with a long taper throat-piece, G, extcnding downward to it, and on the top oi' each of these throat-pieces is a capacious hopper, H. The feeding-throats G converge froni their upper ends downward; and hence, while their lower ends are brou ghtsuficientl y close together to enter the top of the furnaee, their upper ends are so spread that large hoppers-may be arranged upon theni. Each hopper is fitted at its mouth with a gas-tight cover, K, and between each hopper and its throatpiece there is applied an inwardlyclosing gas-tight valve, I, which is so attached to a rock shaft, g, passing through one side of the throat-piece, that it may be opened and closed by a lever, J, secured to the said rockshaft The upper ends of the feedingthroats are wider than the outlets of the hoppers, and the outer sides or walls of the hoppers are nward of or .nearer the center of the furnace than the outer walls of thefeeding-throats. The valves I are hingedbelow the hoppers and outward of or beyond the outer walls of the hoppers, and

consequently when the valves are opened they are approxinatcly coincident with the outer walls of the hoppers and afford a clear outlet i from the hoppers into the fecding-throats, so l that there shall be no danger of the hopper outlets becorning clogged with coal.

`Vhen this furnace is to be used t'or generat 3 :ing gas to be afterward enriched by the addition of a gas or vapor obtaincd by the distillation of a liquid l'ydrocarbon, the lastrnamed t gas or vapor maybe introduced to the firsti named gasin any suitable manner, but pret-` erably as near as possible to the month e of the gasoutlet pipe In Fig. l I have represented the pipc Iz, which supplies the enriching gas or vapor, as bringing it to a jacket, i, surrounding the pipe E close to the furnace and eomnunicating With said pipe through numerous small ori fices, jj.

To start the operation of the apparatus,thc ash-pit door L is opened,and so are the valves I and covers K, and the kindling material and the coal are introduced through the th roats G. l The t'urnacc is graduall y filled up with fuel by filling the hoppers while their valves I are closed, and atterward closing their covers K and opening the valves I. XVhen the furnace is quite fullot" fnel and the lattcr is well ignited, the ashpit doorL is closechand stean and air is introduced by the injector c. The steam and air circulatcs together downward through the jacket (t and through the openings l Z in the bottonrof the latter to the ash piatu'henec they pass into the heated coal in the farmace, wherein they are deconposed and form with the gases Otthe coal a mixture of carbonic oxide and hydrogen, which passes to the pipe E, wlercin, if it is to be enriclcd for illuminating purposes,it ncets the gas or vapor sup- 1 plied for such enrichncnt.

The t'nrnace is kept filled up with coal to thetop, and the throats G and loppers H have also a quantit y ot` fuel kept in them for the autonatically-continnous supply of the furnacc, which is to be kept up in the following manner: The eovers 1( are only required to be opened for filling their respective hoppers; but the valves I are always to be open,cxeept at the time ot` filling their respective hoppers, which is to be done whenever the coal gets so low in the threat G as to perniit its valve to work clear of it. This is about the condition shown in the throat G at the right side of Fig. 1. The valve is then closed and the hoppercover opened, and the hopper is filled with coal and its cover is again closed. The valve l is then opened, asshown at the left-hand side of Fig. 1, and the coal then runs from the hopper into the tlroat and fills the latter, the hopper remaining partly full and continning i for a time to keep the throat fnll,as the latter is continually and automatically discharging itself into and fceding the furnacc. This autonatic l'eeding operation wil. continue so long as there is coal in the throat. So soon as the coal in the throat gets low enough to pernit of the generator.

the elosing of its valvc, which is ascertained by trying the valvc with its lever J from time to time, the valve is closed, as shown at the righthand of Fig. l, the hoppercover istaken off and the hopper filled with coal, after which the hopper cover is closed and the valve opened again. In this way the fnrnace is kept automatically filled to the top; butthe months 'f of the feedingthroats being arrangcd around the mouth c of the central gas outlet, there is lct't in the center of the top ot' the fuel under f thesaid outlct a space of invertcd ccnieal or funnel like form, into which the gas froni the coal is concentrated toward the said outlet c.

By thus providing for the automaticallycontinuous fcedng ot' the coal to the furnacc or generator, the 'urnaee operates with very little variation, and the gas always issues at the out-let e at so high a temperature that it will prodnce the destruetive distitlatiou ot' any lydrocarbon vaporntroduced into it near the said outlet for its cnrichment.

This improvement remcdies a defeet which exists in all gas-gencrating apparatus of this class into which the coal is fed in charges at intervals of time, the fresh fuel so introdueed when the burning or highIy-heated t'uel previously remaining in the t'urnace is very low, as is sometimes the case, so reducing the temperature of the furnace l'or a eonsiderable time that the gas produced in the fu-nace during such time is not only itself of interier quality, but leaves the furnace at so low a temperature as to render it incapable of producing the destructive dstillation of the hydrocarbon vaporsintroduced intoit for its cnriehmenhand the conscquence is that the said vapors con dense and leave a very interier gas.

The grate employed in this fnrnace may be of any suitable kind. That which is reprei sented in the drawings is not herein particularly described, as it is intended to be the subject of another application for Letters Patent.

By two or more feeding throats or passages, arranged as described,l deliver coal at ditfercnt points around the wall of the gencrator, and the coarscr coal tends toward the center The steam, When admitted to the ash-pit, would naturally tend to pass upward along the wall of the generator; but when the coal is fed around the wall of the generator the finer coal remains around the wall while the coarscr rolls to the center, and consequently the center and shallower mass of coarscr coal offers about the same resistance to the passage of stea-m as the deeper mass ot' finer coal lying against the wall of the generator.

I am aware that it is not new to provide in the top of a gas-generating furnacc a central gas-outlet pipe and a number of feeding openings or throats at different points around the said gas-outlet pipe; and I am also aware that a furnace has been provided with a single feeding-throat surmounted by a single hopper. I do not therefore claim such features, broadly, as of my invention.

IIO

It is desirable that the hoppers and feedingthreats shall be as large as possible, so as to hold a good supply of eoal, and to enable the coal to gravitate downward through the out- 5 lets of the hopper without clogging, and the furnaees of this class are seldom of very large diameter. By making the feeding-throats so that they eoverge down ward from their uppe' ends, and arranging the hoppers as far inward to as possible on the tops of the feeding-throats, with their outer walls inward of the outer walls of the throats, I am enabled to hinge the valves I outward of or beyond the outer Walls of the hoppers, so that when opened downward they 15 Will be substantally coineident with the outer walls of the hoppers, and henee there will be no liability of the hopper-outlets becoming clogged. V

What I claim as my invention, and desire 2 to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The combination, with an upright furnace,

A, for produeing gas, of a gas-outlet pi pe, E, leading from the top of the furnace at the center thereof, and two or more feeding-throats, G, eonvergng downward from their upper ends and eonnunicating with the top of the furnace around the wall of the furnaee, hoppers H,surm0nuting the converging feedingthreats G, and having their outer sides inward of the outer walls of the throats, oovers K for said hoppers, and valves I, hinged below the hoppers and beyond or outward of the outer sides or walls of the hoppers, whereby provision is afforded for so openingthem downward as to leave a clear opening from the hoppers into the feeding-throats, substantiall y as here- J d( s 'ribeL l W( MACKENZIE.

Wtnesses RUD. SOHL UTER, FREDK. HAYNES. 

